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FATHER NOAH 



J 



BY THE SAME WRITER 
THE BELLS OF PARADISE 
THE ART OF NIJINSKY 
A BOOK OF WHIMSIES 

{With Keith Henderson) 



FATHER NOAH 

AND OTHER FANCIES 

BY 

GEOFFREY WHITWORTH 



NEW YORK 

ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY 

1919 






Printed in Great Britain 



inqCii 



10 A FRIEND AT THE FRONT 

A/fy Dear K., 

A state of war is little favourable to letter writing 
— such, at any rate, has been our own experience — and in 
dedicating to you this booklet of poems I shall be sending yon 
news of someone from whom you have not heard for a long 
while. Certainly it were more fitting had the procedure 
been reversed. For what news have we who stay at home 
and dream of history to tell to those of you out there who 
are moulding history daily in your own flesh and blood f 
Nevertheless, one trusts that the mind of even a civilian 
may J on occasion, find its contact with reality ; and yoic, 
at least, will not be too censorious with what is written 
here, reminded as you must find yourself— I hope not quite 
unpleasajitly — of days that are gone. 

Several of these verses yon- have seen before — relics, for 
the most part, of a time when young emotion was wont to 
express itself most vocally in terms of an immemorial 
regret. Here is no news of war-time England ! For 
vouth has now no truck with sentiment, and our brave 
Lieutenants have doubtless learnt to pluck the rose with 
all the less compunction that their gallantry is obliged to 
race the swift finale of a ten days' leave. No. These 
%ncies of mine are ' other fancies ' with a vengeance, and 
if you are now kind enough to re-read them, it can be only 
for that pleasure which old friends feel when they meet 
again after long absence, and regale themselves with many 
a ' Do you remember f 
Hardly more in tune, you will say, with interests of the 



moment is a trifle like ' The Little Ballet,' which dates so 
manifestly from the period when Russia had come to be the 
Mecca of our cssthetic enthusiasm. Politically, it may be 
an open question whether Lenin or Czar Nicholas himself 
has proved the crueller to that disastrous land. But as the 
nursery of a Nijinsky or Karsarvina, there can surely be 
no question of our attachment to the Old Regime. And yet, 
how dare one even think of such things 7tow, when for 
Ballet we are offered — you, my dear K., as an actor, I as a 
spectator — this incredible Dance of Death 1 

As for ' Father Noah,' that was written only last year ; 
but already it has been criticized, by some who have read 
it in manuscript, as too simple, too primitively remote, for 
the taste of the hour. And I, in my innocence, had feared 
it more than a shade too topical ! The truth is, I suspect, 
that these amiable critics were disconcerted to find God 
spoken of and thought of as someone actually real — as 
real as the butcher, the baker, the candle-stick maker, or 
the man next door. I am sorry. But, as you know, my 
dear K., it is thus I have been always taught to think of 
Him, and these old illusions die hard. 

For the rest, I will be silent, leaving my little volume to 
beguile you as it may, and — what is more important — to 
bring you from beyond the din of battle a whisper of every 
good and happy greeting from yours ever, 

G. A. W. 

Easter, 191 8. 



NOTE 

Some of the poems in the latter section 
of this book have already appeared in 
To-Day, Art and Letters, and The Open 
Window. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



FATHER NOAH 13 

OTHER FANCIES : 

the invocation - - - - "45 

nymph's awakening - - - - 46 

a boy sings in the morning - - - 47 

dante's dream - - - - - 48 

NEIGE D'ANTAN - - - - "49 

FROM RONSARD - - - - "SO 

SHADOWS - - - - - - 51 

tramp's HONEYMOON - - - ' 5^ 

THE SECRET - - - - "53 

THE OLD LADIES - - - - "54 

SIC TRANSIT - - - - - 55 

A LOVE REJECTED - - - "56 

LILY - - - - - - 57 

THE RED HOUSE - - - - -58 

LOVE LIES BLEEDING - - - - 60 

LE SPECTRE DE LA ROSE - - - 61 

THE LITTLE BALLET - - - - 62 

DINARD : I913 - - - - - 67 

A BALLAD OF BLOIS - - - - 69 

THE MONK OF FIESOLE - - - - 71 

VENETIAN ECHO - - - - - 72 

LISTEN - - - - - - 73 

THE BELLS OF PARADISE - - "74 

ENVOI - - - - - - 76 



FATHER NOAH 



Darkness in the Hold of the A rk, and Silence, except 

for the sound of creaking timbers as the great ship 

heaves to the swell, or for the cries and roars oj 

the animals heard remote and muffled as though 

thro^igh zvalls of wood. 

A sense of suffocation. And then, from above, the 

ftickeving light of a lantern, and the figure of Noah 

himself descending warily by the ladder which leads 

from a trap door in the roof of the Hold, vertically to 

the floor. 

He is very old. 

THE VOICE OF A CHILD 
Grandfather ! 

NOAH 
Come, come. 
It is quite safe. 
You cannot fall, 
And if you do 
I am here. 

THE CHILD'S VOICE 

Grandfather, 

I am frightened ! 

NOAH 

Come, 

Let me guide your feet with my hand. 

And do not look downwards. 

Keep your eyes fixed straight in front of you. 

THE CHILD'S VOICE 
Oh! 

13 



And now the figure of a girl, about nine years old, 
is seen following Noah, slowly and fearfully down the 
ladder. 

NOAH 

Come, come. 

What will your mother say 

When she hears that her little Rachel has been 
down into the Hold of the Ark 

Where no one has ever been save I, your grand- 
father, 

And your father Japheth, 

And your two uncles, Shem and Ham ! 

Silence f while they come at last to the ground. 

RACHEL 

Oh, how glad I feel ! 

NOAH 

You see there was nothing to be afraid of. 

RACHEL 

But what a queer musty smell ! 

One would say that we were in a cave of the 

mountains. 
Where the sun never shines, 
And that has been sealed against the air of heaven 

since the sixth day of creation ! 
Why is it so big, Grandfather, and nothing in it ? 

NOAH 

There are many things in the Hold my child. 

He turns the lantern so that its rays illumine the 
dark corners. 
14 



All the stores of the Ark. 

There is the corn in that great bin — 

And maize ; 

Six hundred barrels of maize — 

And the hay piled up. 

Provender for man and beast. 

See, here is the white flour which I came for. 

I must take back a full measure. 

And he begins to ladle out the floiiv fvoyn the bin 
into a measure of horn that hangs from his neck. 
Rachel, meanwhile, goes peering about into the dark 
corners of the Hold. 

RACHEL 

What is this, Grandfather, 

In this sack ? 

NOAH 

Seeds, my child, 

For the birds — for the Doves and the Ravens. 

RACHEL 
And here ? 

NOAH 

Fresh earth for the worms. 

RACHEL 
Grandfather . . . 

NOAH 

Yes, my child ? 



15 



RACHEL 
The raven 
That you sent away from the Ark when it rested 

upon the pinnacle of the mountain 
Returns not. 
Nor the dove, 

My pretty dove that nestled against me, 
Cooing as if she had found her mate. 
Oh, Grandfather, sometimes I cannot help crying to 

myself for the thought of her. 
Think you that she is safe, out there, 
Alone upon the face of the waters ? 

NOAH 

God careth for her. 

RACHEL 

When was she set free ? 

Five days ago, was it not ? 

NOAH 

It was that day of the great wind. 

When the Ark shifted from the pinnacle of the 

mountain ; 
And ever since we have drifted on 
Towards the rising of the sun. 

RACHEL 

I pray to God every night for my dove. 

Silence again, while Noah goes on filling his measure 
of flour, and Rachel continues her survey of the Hold. 
Now she has wandered into a far corner, where the 
shadows almost hide her from sight. 

Grandfather . . . 
i6 



NOAH 
My child ? 

RACHEL 

What is this ? 

This great ring, 

And the chain that hangs from the wall ? 

Noah lets the lid of the flouy-bin fall ivith a hang. 

NOAH 

Rachel ! 

What are you doing there ? 

Drop that chain at once, I say ! 

RACHEL 

I am sorry, grandfather. 

NOAH 

No, but I must not blame you. 

How should you have known. ... 

RACHEL 

Known what, Grandfather ? 

NOAH 

It is the bung-hole of the Ark. 

This chain is fastened into the midst of a great 

wedge, do you see, that is kept in its place by 

ties of maple wood. 
If the wedge were to become loosened, 
Or if it were drawn away. . . . 

RACHEL 

Yes, Grandfather ? 

B ly 



NOAH 

The waters would flow in 

RACHEL 

And the Ark would fill with water ? 

NOAH 

It would fill with water. 

RACHEL 

And the Ark would sink to the bottom of the sea ? 

NOAH 

With all that therein is. 

Every morning I come down into the Hold 

To see that the wedge is secure ; 

For the whole world that God created is within 

the walls of this Ark, 
Both small and great and creeping thing, 
And I am the father of all, 
And it is by the will of God that I keep them safe. 

RACHEL 

And is it not your will also, Grandfather ? 

NOAH 
How dare man 
That is but a creature 

Measure his will by the will of the Lord God that 
made him ? 

RACHEL 

Did God well to make the world, Grandfather ? 

i8 



NOAH 

Hush, child. 

You do not understand. 

Shall the clay judge the potter, 

Or the child the father that begat him ? 

RACHEL 

If / were God . . . 

Btit now a commotion begins to be heard from the 
direction of the roof, and three robed men are seen 
following one another hastily down the ladder. They 
gesticulate excitedly and all talk at once. 

THE THREE MEN 

No, no. Yes, yes, I say. No, No ! That is not 
the truth ! It is the truth ! Lies ! Truth ! 
You should die for this ! Justice ! Injustice 
most ashamed ! Curses ! To the death, I sware 
it ! You said so ! Never. You did ! No, No ! 
Yes, yes, I say ! 

NOAH 

Hush, hush, my children. 

What is this that you dispute among yourselves ? 
Have I not already enough to bear, 
Have we not all of us enough to bear, 
Without adding to our burden by these wrangles 
of the nursery ? 

ONE OF THE THREE 

This is no wrangle of the nursery. Father, 

As you yourself will agree. 

When you come to know the cause. 

Your son Shem here ... 

19 



SHEM 

Do not listen to him, Father. 

Rage has turned him mad. 

NOAH 

If Ham may not speak, 

Why should I the rather listen to thee, Shem ? 

SHEM 

I am the first-born son. 

HAM 

But I am the one aggrieved. 

NOAH 

I will listen to neither of you. 

But Japheth, 

If so be that the quarrel is none of his, 

Let him make known the cause thereof. 

Speak Japheth. 

RACHEL {who has been standing hy^ affrighted, not 

knowing what to do) 
Father . . . 

She nms over to Japheth and puts her hand in his. 

JAPHETH 

So be it, brothers. 

I will unfold the matter ; 

And by these Hps shall nothing but the truth be 

spoken. 
And neither of you two shall be advantaged the 

one over the other, 
Unless it be by the truth. 



But first of all let the little maid depart, 
For it is not meet that she should hear 
How her uncles dispute together over her tender- 
ness. 

NOAH 

Lead her away. 

Japheth leads Rachel to the foot of the ladder, and 
encourages her to ascend. Then he returns, and stands 
in the midst before his father. 

Speak now, my son. 

JAPHETH 

I know not well how to begin, Father. 

Nevertheless, 

According to my promise and my obedience will I 

strive to make all things plain. 
The matter brews these many days. 
In the darkness of the night, and in the noonday 

silences, 
As we have lain, my brothers and I, by the window 

that looks upon the North, 
We have talked of many things. 
And oftentimes have we harboured the thought that 

our fate will be to die here in the Ark, 
And my brothers have bemoaned their fate with 

many lamentations. 
But I have told them that already I have lived too 

long, 
Day in, day out, toiling as a young man, 
Tending the flocks of my father, 
And loving the woman that was given me to wife, 



Having joy to see her big with my young, 

And then to behold my child, 

My little Rachel, 

Growing up tall and straight and laughing in the 

sunshine. 
And withal this sorrow, 
That no male thing has been given me for the 

guerdon of my loins, 
And my wife now nears the limit of child-bearing. 

NOAH 

Well do I know your sorrow, Japheth, 

For your thought is not hid from me. 

Yet how pertaineth this to your present trouble ? 

JAPHETH 

It is even the whole cause 

And the whole meaning thereof. 

NOAH 

How so, Japheth ? 

But Japheth makes no answer. 

Come. Fear not to speak your mind. 

For knowing not all, 

Think you that I can give right judgment ? 

But still Japheth is silent. 

SHEM 

Look you, Father ; It is even as I said. 

Our brother cannot tell you this tale. 

His shame hath gotten the better of him — 

Even though the affair be none of his. 



Let me, therefore, take up the tale where he has 

dropped it, 
For the matter is between me and my brother Ham, 
And before God, I have no shame in it ! 
And if my tongue play me into false witness, 
Let Ham take up the telling on my behalf. 
Will that quieten thy scruples, brother, for thee ? 

HAM 

Be it so, brother. 

SHEM 

Know then, Father, that to us. 

Casting our minds forward to the days that shall be 
when the flood is ended. 

And the Ark sinks once again to the surface of the 
land, 

It has appeared to us well 

That we should consider the division of our inherit- 
ance of the earth 

Which shall then be open to us. 

For in the old days 

It was your inheritance alone that was to be divided, 

According to the law of our fathers, and of thy will. 

But now shall the whole earth be ours, 

And that is a great thing, Father, 

A mighty inheritance, 

One that may justly give cause for thought and 
counsel. 

NOAH 

And is not the whole world wide enough 

But that my three sons must dispute among 

themselves 
How it may be divided ? 

23 



SHEM 

We dispute not, Father. 

But reason itself forbids that we should not con- 
sider 
How it shall be in that day 
When our children rise up before us, 
And demand of us to know 
What things are theirs. 

HAM 

Indeed, Father, this is the question, 

And this alone, 

That brings us here for judgment. 

For Shem, 

Being the eldest son, 

Affirms that his eldest son should be betrothed to 

Rachel his cousin, the daughter of Japheth, 
That thereby the portion of Japheth 
Should come at length unto the seed of Shem. 

SHEM 

And that is just and right and according to the 
Law. 

HAM 

Nay, brother, 

Herein it is that you are wrong. 

For already I, 

Being the second son, 

Have but a meagre share beside thine. 

And surely it is but fair and honest 

That the portion of Japheth should be added to my 

lowly portion. 
Rather than that it should go to swell thy portion 
Which is already overgrown. 

24 



SHEM 

Would you impute, then, that the portion of my 
inheritance is greater than my desert ? 

HAM 

I impute nothing, brother. 

SHEM 

Ah, but your thoughts are envious. I know them. 

And did I not overhear you in your prayers 

Making petition to God 

That the wife of Japheth might be barren of male 

issue, 
Lest a son should be born to him 
And all your evil designs be brought to naught ? 

HAM 

What are my prayers to you ? 

Spy! ■ 

And if I would, I also might tell a tale 

Of your own prayers 

And of a sacrifice you made . . . 

NOAH 

Let be, let be. 

Must the ears of your father be hurt by a tale of 

such baseness ? 
And you, Japheth, 
Do you keep silence against this wrong that is 

done ? 

JAPHETH 

I am silent, father. 

For I have nothing to say. 

25 



And after all, 

What is a man's daughter 

But a marriage portion to be bought by the highest 

bidder, 
Or taken by force of him that proves he has the 

right of law ? 
Nevertheless 
Maybe the day will come when Rachel shall be 

avenged, 
And when I, her father, shall laugh my brethren to 

scorn. 
For here now Shem boasteth that he is the eldest 

son. 
And Ham boasteth of his Canaan. 
But let him beware, I say, 
Lest Canaan this son of his be cursed with a 

terrible curse, 
And lest I — 
Even I — 
Be blessed with stalwart boys that shall inherit the 

land in his despite. 
Let him beware, I say. Let him beware . . . 

SHEM 

Our brother hath an evil tongue it seems ! 

HAM 

I heed him not. 

Let him persuade another wife to his bed 

Ere he comes prating thus to me of sons ! 

NOAH 

Peace, Peace. 

To every man his own sorrow. 

26 



And now I will hear no more. 

Yet since you, my sons, have come to me for 

judgment, 
This is the thing that I judge. 
You are to blame, Shem and Ham, 
For you have done evil. 
Disputing together to your own hurt. 
But Japheth is blameless ; 
And his daughter, 
The virgin Rachel, 
A virgin shall remain till such time as she is ripe 

for marriage. 
Then let her choose her own husband for herself, 
Even him that best pleases her. 
Whether it be of the sons of Shem or of the sons 

of Ham. 
And let none gainsay her. 
This is my judgment. 

SHEM 

But Father . . . 

HAM 

But Father ... 

NOAH 
Enough. 
Get you gone. 
I have spoken. 

Noah makes a gesture of dismissal, and his sons 

cower back before him. 
No, Japheth, 
Stay you behind ; 
I have a word for you alone. 

27 



Japheth comes hack into the middle of the Hold, 
while his two brothers begin to mount the ladder^ 
gathering tip their robes about them. 

Come nearer, Japheth, 
My latest born, 
My best beloved. 

They are alone now. 

Have you nothing to say to me ? 

JAPHETH 

For your judgment in this matter I thank you. 

NOAH 

Is your mind eased, 

And is your sorrow comforted ? 

JAPHETH 

For Rachel's sake, I am i_ 

But for myself I care not. 

And why should I care ? 

What am I, father, but a man ? 

And hath it not already repented the Lord God that 

he ever made man ? 
Verily, if we were beings of sense. 
Think you that we should be now here ? 
Should we not rather have lain face downwards 

upon the fields at home, 
While the great rain fell upon us and consumed us 

utterly. 
With all the rest of creation ? 
And found peace amid the deep waters ? 

28 



NOAH 

So you too, Japheth ! 

Into your heart also has the iron entered. 

And here in this Ark that was builded to keep alive 

the praise of God from all his creatures, 
Even here is nothing but the bitterness of despair. 

JAPHETH 

Shem and Ham despair not. 

NOAH 

Their lusts preserve them. 

JAPHETH 
And you, Father, 
You do not despair. 

NOAH 

Little you know of me, son — 

Less, maybe, than I know of you. 

JAPHETH 

But you are he that encouraged us all from the 

beginning, 
And bade us build the Ark, 
And kept high our spirit with your prophecy of 

better days. 
So if your hopefulness be gone, 
What weapon remains against despair ? 

NOAH 

I know, I know, Japheth, 

But you need not rebuke me, 

29 



For continually do I fight within myself 

This battle with despair. 

And I revive the memory of youthful days, 

When all the world seemed beautiful, 

And love itself was enough ; 

And then the middle years of toil and increase ; 

And thereafter the latter years 

When I would sit before the door of the tent 

And see you, my children, growing up around me, 

Learning love in your turn, 

And the happiness of toil. 

And calling to mind such things 

I would say that life was good. 

Yet now what is left ? 

I am old and the world is overwhelmed, 

And my sons are not as the generous men of old, 

but are filled with malice and greed. 
And the animals wax hungry. 
And just as my sons, 
Lusting after many possessions. 
Have fallen into hatred one against the other. 
Even so also they. 

The lion and the eagle, the wolf and the hawk. 
Fall to devour their fellows in the darkness of the 

ship. 
Thus you may see how the world, 
If ever we come back to it alive, 
Shall be given over to the beasts that slay and 

devour. 
For gentleness is dead, 
And all the kindness that was in the earth. 

JAPHETH 
Poor Father ! 

30 



NOAH 

Well may you pity me ; 
You are stronger than I now. 

And this, indeed, is the reason why I have desired 
to speak with you. 

JAPHETH 

What do you want of me. Father ? 

NOAH 

I would ask you a question. 

It is a simple question. 

And you must answer truthfully. 

DO YOU DESIRE THAT THIS WORLD SHOULD GO ON ? 

JAPHETH 

DO I DESIRE THAT THE WORLD SHOULD GO ON ? 

NOAH 

If you had the poxver, 

Like God, 

To unmake the world — 

If you held in the hollow of your hand the whole 

creation, 
What would you do ? 
Speak. 

You are a young man, 
You should know. 

JAPHETH 

But no one could destroy the world. 

31 



NOAH 

You think not ? 

He beckons Japheth to follow him over to the dav h 
covnev where is the hung of the Ark. 

You see that chain . . . 

JAPHETH 
I see it. 

NOAH 

On that chain hangs the fate of all created life. 

JAPHETH 
Father ... 

NOAH 

One morning, Japheth, 

When I descended, as is my custom, for the daily 

measure of flour, 
I heard a soft sound from this dark corner, 
And coming over 
I found that the wooden pin that holds the bung in 

place 
Had slipped in its socket. 
So that the bung was loosened a little, 
And from one side of it 
There came a thin spray of water 
Spurting out into the Hold. 
It was easy to press back the bung, 
And to slip the wooden pin into place, 
But what happened once 
Might happen again ; 

32 



And since then, 

Every morning 

I have been careful to come and see that all was well. 

And standing here, with my hand on the chain, 

I have thought how easy a thing it would be 

To loosen the pin in its socket, 

To see that spray of water start again into the 

Hold, 
And then 

To slip quietly away, 
Away up the ladder. 
While the bung gave 
Little by little, 

And that spray of water grew into a stream, 
And then a great spout of water, churning far 

into the Hold. 
Slowly at first, 

But ever quicker and more quick, 
The Hold would fill with water. 
And as it filled 
The Ark would sink. 
Lower and lower . . . 

JAPHETH (after a long silence) 
You have strange thoughts. Father. 

NOAH 

I am an old man, Japheth, 

And the old have oftentimes strange thoughts, 

Although they seldom speak them. 

JAPHETH 

Why, then, have you chosen to speak your thoughts 
to me now ? 

c 33 



NOAH 

Because it is you that must tell me what to do. 

JAPHETH 

It is God who must tell you that. 

NOAH 

God hath his reckoning with me alone. 

But now my reckoning is with man. 

I hold the fate of mankind within these fingers. 

Let man choose. 

JAPHETH 

You should ask the rather of my brothers. 

NOAH 

They love life. 

It is clear beforehand what they would say. 

JAPHETH 

Knowing then my weakness, 

You would tempt me. 

NOAH 

I love you, Japheth, child of my begetting. 

Your weakness is dearer to me than the strength of 

ten. 
I would not tempt you, 
And well you know what word it is that I hope to 

hear you speak. 

JAPHETH {after another silence) 

Father, I cannot speak that word. 

You gave me life. 

But here — 

If you ask for the truth — 

34 



I stand before you and I say, 

Take it again. 

For life to those who think is misery, 

And the end of all things is the hope of all. 

Verily you cheat yourself 

If you believe that in giving judgment awhile ago 

between my brethren 
You have contented them for more than a day. 
For looking ahead to the time that shall be when 

the flood is ended, 
I foresee trouble, trouble, and trouble urther yet. 
I am a man of peace. Father, 
And I love the arts and the labours of peace ; 
They call me the * maker.' 
But what virtue is there in making 
For other men to destroy ? 
And if not men — God ? 

For He, it seems, is the greatest destroyer of all. 
This, then, is my answer : 
Man is a weak and a puny thing at best, 
But if by destruction he may make himself the 

equal of God, 
Why then, 
For all I care. 
Let the world. 
Like a broken toy, 
Turn again into the chaos whence it came. 

NOAH {almost inatidihly) 
Go, Japheth. 

Japheth obeys, and Noah is left alone. 

Noah remains for a while standing where he is. 

Then turns and sits down wearily on a clump of 

coiled rope. 

35 



So this is the end. 

My son has rejected the Hfe that I offered him — 

My son, 

For whom all my hope and labour has been 

All my life long. 

What more is there to do ? 

This is the crown of my trouble. 

Noah vises with arms outstretched. 

Oh, God, 

Now in my loneliness and despair 

I turn to Thee, 

Great creator of All, 

And I charge Thee to speak from the dark abyss 

where thou dwellest. 
And if so be that thou hast any love remaining for 

the generation of man, 
Do thou make known thy will ; 
Make it known, I say, 
Lest ere long it be too late — 
Too late even for Thee, 
God! 
For although thou mayest create another and a 

better world, 
Never again canst thou love it as a mother loves 

her first-born child. 
And if so be thou blamest me now for faithlessness, 
Know this, O God, 

That never of myself would I have done this thing. 
And that I, even now, am but the instrument of 

another's choice. 
For did I not shudder in my soul when Japheth 

spake that word which forbade me to hold my 

hand? 

36 



And myself have I not loved the world and hoped 

for it ? 
Yea, verily, 

That day when Japheth came to me 
With his boy's eyes all shining with pride and fear, 
And showed me the arrow-head that he had made 

of molten metal, 
I indeed received his gift with few words ; 
But none the less did I ponder the matter in my 

heart. 
And bethought me what further secrets might be 

lurking under the great vault of the sky, 
What new marvels for my sons and their sons' 

children 
To discover in the fulness of time. 
And I was proud to be their father, 
And in myself I felt the stir of miracles to be. 
But now all that is done with. 
For what is an arrow-head beside the heart's 

happiness ? 
And happiness is gone ; 
And I, the creature of God, 
Rise up against God in judgment. 

Noah paces in agony up and down the Hold, 

Oh, why was I born ? 

Why was I born to carry in my soul the burden of 

this doubt ! 
Ha! 

And to think that the very men 
For whom I am to do this deed 
Will never live to thank me ! 

He goes up to the bung, and stretches out his hand 
towards the chain ; then speaks again very quietly. 

37 



It is mid day. 

My wife and my sons and their children lie upon 
the deck asleep. 

Without having touched the chain he drops his 
hand, 

O God ! O God ! 

He comes hack towards the front of the Hold, 

God has not spoken. 

He will not speak. 

It may be there is no God. . . . 

Suddenly there is a livid flash of lightning that 
illumines for an instant the darkest recesses of the 
Hold, followed almost immediately by a crash of 
thunder. The whole Ark shivers from top to 
bottom. Noah staggers back into an attitude of 
rigidity. For from the bunghole of the Ark a 
great jet of water is spurting out into the Hold. It 
seems to gather voUime every moment, and splashes 
up in a cloud of white spray where it strikes the 
floor. 

With a loud cry Noah runs to the hung and tries 
to press it hack into place. 

Almost at the same' moment Shem, Ham, andjapheth 
come hastily down the ladder. 

SHEM 

The ship has been struck by lightning ! 

Father, where are you ? 

HAM 
Father ! 
JAPHETH 

Father ! Father ! 

38 



Now they have caught sight of Noah stvuggUng at 

the hung, and they htvvy over to him with cries of 

encouragement and exhortation. 

fapheth tears off a great piece of linen from his robe 

and stuffs it into the hole. 

The water ceases to pour in» 

SHEM 

But how did it happen ? 

HAM 

I think the Hghtning must have struck the side 
of the ship. . . . 

SHEM 

And not a cloud in the sky ! 

Most strange ! 

HAM 

Did you feel it even here, Father ? 

But Noah makes no reply. 

He has sunk hack against the timbered wall of the 

ship. His head is held between his hands. 

JAPHETH 
Father . . . 

NOAH {lifting his head, and staring in front of hint 
like one who has seen a vision)\ 

The Lord is merciful. 

JAPHETH 

Are you hurt, Father ? 



39 



NOAH 

No matter. No matter. It will pass. . . 

But now I am broken. 

JAPHETH 
Tell me. 

NOAH 

God was too strong, Japheth. 

He spake His word and the fire descended. 

He struck His bolt and the waters flowed. 

SHEM 

Yet it was you that saved the Ark ! 

NOAH 

Oh, yes, 

It was I that saved the Ark. 

Another moment and the waters would have^ rent 

the sides away. 
And then no power on earth, 
Not God Himself, 
Could have stopped them. 

SHEM 

You have done this day a mighty deed 1 

HAM 

You have saved the world, Father ! 

NOAH 

Have I, Shem and Ham ? 
But what say^w, Japheth ? 

40 



JAPHETH {bowing his head) 
I am ashamed. 

NOAH 

And I am glad. 
I accept. 
Yes. . . . 

Noah rises. 
For now all is over, 
The lesson is learnt, 
And once again 

Time reaches out before the race of man — 
Man who is both the servant and the master ; 
And his will lieth within the will of God 
Like seed in the hand of the sower. 

SHEM 

Our Father speaks strange words. 

He is even as one talking in his sleep. 

HAM 

His eyes are wide open. . . 

NOAH 

Hark ! Listen ! 

Noah comes forward to the front of the Hold. 
A long silence. 



SHEM 

What is it, Father ? 

NOAH 

Cannot you hear ? 



41 



SHEM 
No, Father. 

HAM 

Nothing. 

NOAH 

You hear it, Japheth ? 

So gentle 

It might be the very breath of the Spirit of God. . 

JAPHETH {aftev a further silence) 
I hear the sound of a dove 
Cooing. 

NOAH 

THE DOVE HAS RETURNED TO THE ARK. 
JAPHETH 

Rachel's dove. 

NOAH 

Go. 

Find and tell her, Japheth. 



42 



OTHER FANCIES 



43 



THE INVOCATION 

GRAVE God who gazest darkly down, 
Silent and cold and still, 
What broods beneath that furrowed frown, 
What lingering grace of old renown. 
What dreams of good or ill ? 

Mere stone are you, and nothing more 

Than mask on emptiness ? 

Were you alive, could you restore 

To me, a beggar at the door, 

Lost hope of happiness ? 

Eros unknown ! Eternal Flower ! 
All other help being vain, 
Let me believe ! For one short hour 
Renew for me your ancient power, 
Assuage and heal my pain ! 

And, if no sacrifice I bring 
Of kid or tender goat. 
And, if the modern words I sing 
Hollow and empty seem to ring. 
Untuned to mystic note. 

Yet, humble worshipper from afar, 
Love's ministry I claim. 
And by all sacred things that are. 
By noonday sun and evening star, 
Eros, I name Thy Name ! 



45 



NYMPH'S AWAKENING 

DOWN in a glen wandering over-bold 
Asleep I found my love to-day. 
A flower among the flowers she lay, 
A fairy flake of cream and gold. 

She slept like a quiet thought. But while 
I yearned and waited, love's glad fool, 
As a ripple stirring a still pool 
So rippled round her lips a smile. 

Then say, my heart, did her dream come true 

When, like quivering wings of butterflies, 

Those delicate curtains of her eyes 

Rifted their hidden deeps of blue. 

Then say, O my heart, did her dream come true ? 



46 



A BOY SINGS IN THE MORNING 



MAID of fair delight, 
Sheperding thy sheep 
In the twinkhng Hght 
By the waters deep 
Where the fairies sleep, 



All for me this day 
Streaks the Eastern sky. 
And the star-light shy 
Meekly fades away. 
Loth to stay 
With thee to vie. 



For to-night, 
By Cupid's might. 
Not as maid unwed 
Shalt thou find thy bed 
By some shady rill. 
When the yellow moon, 
Glad Harvest's boon, 
Strides the Western hill. 



47 



DANTE'S DREAM 



UNDER her shroud, with golden head upturned 
And breast all tremulous with life's last breath, 
Beatrice lies. Sunset has almost burned 
Itself away. The night is here, and Death. 



How lovely in death she is ! How lovely in life ! 
Eyes that were blue — lips that were crimson red ! 
See, for his sake, who feared to call her Wife, 
Love's very self leans lightly above her bed. 



The sun is down. Dead is the dying day. 
Beatrice, Dante, they are fled away 
Where the dead lovers are that sigh alway. 
And yet, O my Love, do you and I delay ? 



48 



NEIGE D'ANTAN 



PINK and white, pink and white, 
O my love, my dead deHght ! 

White was her forehead, 
White was her breast, 
Whiter than the white bed 
Where she used to rest, 



And pink through her night-gown, 

Like roses in a mist. 

Twin truant buds from heaven blown down, 

Craving to be kissed. 

Pink and white, pink and white ! 
My love ! My dead delight ! 



49 



FROM RONSARD 



DEAREST, shall we find that rose 
Which did this very morn unclose 
Her crimson raiment to the sun, 
If now, perchance, the day being done, 
She hath lost her dress so fine 
And the bloom that equalled thine ? 



Alas ! In what a little space, 
Dearest, from her fragrant face 
She these beauties all hath shed ! 
O cruel, cruel Nature, thou, 
Since such a flower, so fair but now, 
In one brief day is withered ! 



Dearest, then, this is thy duty : 
While thou keepest yet thy beauty 
Fresh and dazzling, green and stainless, 
Pluck thy youth, for it is flying, 
E'en as this flower now lies dying 
Age will dim thy loveliness. 



50 



SHADOWS^ 



ASCENT on the air 
As her own self sweet, 
And time so fleet 

Is all melted away like the glance of the shadows 
Cast on her treasure of golden hair ; 
And under the cliffs, in the breeze, by the shallows, 
Once again she laughs and draws pictures again on 
the sand. 



Yes, yes. So let it live, 

In a scent wafted back from a long dead past, 

That day when I took her hand 

And was ready my heart to give. 

Yet knew that love might not last. 



51 



TRAMP'S HONEYMOON 



SUN, cloud, sky. . . . 
The air with summer scented thick, 
And asleep in the shade of a soft hay-rick, 

You and I. 



Moon, stars, sky. . . . 

Into grey of the dawn fades the night of blue, 
And there on a dim white road, just you — 

You and I. 



5? 



THE SECRET 



SHE stood by the gate where the white road 
stretches down either side to the plain below ; 
And the wind swept by with its mingled murmurs, 
and the dead leaves scattered to and fro. 
In the East hung a star that palely glittered : 

She said never a word. 
Only there came a smile that twittered 

Round her lips like the song of a bird. 



Did she love me, say, for half one instant, while 

the sun dropt over that edge of hill ? 
I could not ask her. I could not question the 
silence that followed, that follows still. 
There was nothing of course in it all, for she 
uttered 

No sigh, no word. 
Yet, how well I remember that smile ! It 
fluttered 

Round her lips like the flight of a bird ! 



53 



THE OLD LADIES 



WHAT are you doing, Old Ladies, down there 
by the shore. 
By the grey sea shore ? 
Can your hearts be so Hght, 
Can the sun shine so bright, 
Are the pebbles so smooth as before 
Your hair turned white ? 



Yet there's something that made you smile down 
there by the shore. 

By the green cragged shore ; 
Was it just the fine day ? 
Or that out from the bay 
Came a whisper that seemed to restore 

Dreams half faded away ? 



54 



SIC TRANSIT 



ONE with the land of past delight, 
One with a joy that's sped, 
One with the memoried touch and sight 
Of beauty that has fled. 



One with Thee, must I still be old, 
Still feel, as the years slip by, 

Love and light and life grow cold. 
Flicker and fade, and die ! 



55 



A LOVE REJECTED 



WITH rigid arms I held away from me 
The girl who loved me. Bright with a veil 

of tears 
Her eyes, so pitifully, sorrowfully blue, 
Met mine in an agony of trust denied. 
The poor proud spirit of a woman spurned 
Was in that glance. Its tenderness mocked, its 

strength 
Made weakness. Even so a mother's heart 
Goes crying sometimes hungry through the world 
For the little boy that cruelly grows up, 
For the wanderer who will not come back home. 



56 



LILY 

BRIGHT to my sense you seem 
As some pale dream 
Of the moonlight. 

You are so white ; 

So white, compounded 

With the delicate tint of a sea-shell. 

And all you had to sell 

I've bought and sounded, 

Save, Lily, your heart. 

And that, though I rivet 

And lock it down with my gold key 

Still, still escapes me — 

And must, till you give it. 

Yes, till then, Lily white, 
All our loves must seem 
More wan than a dream 
Of moonlight. . . . 



57 



THE RED HOUSE 



OH, come, my love, to the uplands, 
For I've built a house for you, 
A white house high in the uplands 
Where the sky is clear and blue. 

O love, it is bleak on the uplands, 

The wind blows restlessly 
As night creeps over the uplands, 

A nd the lambs bleat piteoiisly. 

Then come down, my love, to the hollow, 
It's homely, and quiet, and fair, 

For I've built a grey house in the hollow, 
And no one else will be there. 

Oh, I fear the damp in the hollow, 

And all the homeliness 
Of your grey honse in the hollow 

Will be spoiled by its loneliness. 

O grey house, O white house. 
That have earned my love's disdain, 

O white house, O grey house. 
Have I built you both in vain ? 

No, no I But down by the highroad 

(Oh, carry me there, I pray) — 
There's a red house down by the highroad, 

I dreamed of it yesterday. 



58 



Oh, I dreamed, I dreamed of a red hotise 

With a wide and lofty door, 
And I dreamed it was built where the brave, strong 
men 

Went riding away to the war, 
And I dreamed that the strong and brave men 

Came riding back amain, 
With a wave of their hands and a lift of their hearts 

As I smiled through the window-pane. 

O sweet love, O true love, 

Your word is a law to me. 
By the side of the winding road, love, 

A red house presently 
Shall rise like a banner to heaven, 

And your dream shall be builded again ; 
Yet I fear, O sweet, O true love, 

The march of those strong, brave men 



59 



LOVE LIES BLEEDING 

SING! 
From your joy's brimming goblet 
Let fall here and there 
Drops that I, 

I and any chance wayfarer, 
May capture 
And treasure. 

Hist ! 

Do you hear 

Through the wide open window 

Her soul come a'sailing, 

In a silver sphere of sound, 

Poised perfectly, 

Come sailing towards me ? 

Enough ! 

Take care, 

Take heed, 

Lest I catch it in passing, 

Lest I crush it to nothing, 

And the song and the singer 

Cease for ever ! 



60 



LE SPECTRE DE LA ROSE 

OPEN your eyes that close 
To this maiden dream so light ; 
I am the wraith of a rose 
You wore at the dance last night. 
You gathered me pearly and wet 
With the silver tears of the dew ; 
In that ghttering throng I let 
You carry me all night through. 

You were my death, you know, 

But you cannot keep away 

My rosy spirit ; to and fro 

It shall dance by your bed till day. 

Be not afraid — I ask no dole 

Of pity or prayers or sighs ; 

This scented sweetness is my soul. 

And it comes from Paradise. 

Envy, rather, my fate : 

For many would die to rest. 

So pure and so consecrate, 

In the tender tomb of your breast — 

On its marble front to repose 

Where a poet's kiss for me 

Has written : Here lies a rose 

Where a king might give all to be ! 

(From Theophile Gautiev,) 



^% 



THE LITTLE BALLET 

SCENE, the grounds of a French chateau. 
Time, eleven or twelve or so 
Of a moonHt midsummer night. 
Hither 6lise, all in white, 
Comes walking in the garden late, 
Lured by chance, or perhaps by fate, 
To a bosky glade unknown, 
And a pond with lilies grown. 

At the further side of the pond 

Are some steps, and then beyond, 

A little paved and grassy square, 

Three-sided, with a hew hedge fair, 

And in the middle gleaming grey, 

What nearly frightens her away, 

A Figure standing all alone 

So quiet you might have thought it stone. 

It is in fact a statue. There 

It stands with empty eyes a-stare. 

And carven sides by sculptor's art 

Moulded true in every part 

To show the body of a boy, 

Tense with manhood's ripening joy, 

Yet hinting through its beauty bold 

The loveliness of all things old. 



62 



For the statue's crumbled face, 

And its limbs, bear trace on trace 

Of moss and weathered veins of green 

With many a watery stain between. 

Antique it is beyond a doubt, 

The budding lips curved suavely out 

In a melancholy smile, 

All mystery and classic guile. 



Elise laughs to think that she 
At such a sight could frightened be ; 
And for proof of self-reliance, 
Or it may be of defiance 
{Moonlight maddens many a maid 
That were else discreet and staid), 
To the statue needs must haste 
To print a kiss upon its waist. 



Towards the lovely boy she has leant. 
Her breast against the stone is pent. 
She gives her kiss, and then upturns 
Her eye to his. That blind gaze burns 
Her cheek to red, and she could swear 
Something has ruffled through her hair. 
The breeze ? Or warm and living breath 
Stirring from that face of death ? 



63 



Elise would have run away, 

But amazement bids her stay. 

For now she feels the statue shiver, 

And down its limbs, like rippling river, 

Muscle swell and sinew twist 

With strength no marble could resist. 

Then — is it dream or naked truth ? — 

Down from his pedestal steps the youth. 



His arms are out and she is near. 

Surely a dream — yet some strange fear 

Forbids to taste of that delight 

Which, dreaming, should have been her right. 

Rather she lifts her hand to shield 

Secrets that no maid may yield, 

And, turning on her dainty feet, 

Trips off. The statue follows fleet. j 



O midsummer moonlight ! Sweet employ ! 
Flying, following, girl and boy ! 
This way, that way, in and out, 
Behind the hedge and round about 
The lilied pool, now here, now there, 
Scuttering, fluttering, light as air. 
Hither and thither, to and fro, 
Dodging, doubling, watch them go ! 



He has caught her. No, she's off too fast ! 

Yet man must have his way at last. 

With a leap that spans the pool, 

Breaking every decent rule 

Of hide-and-seek, he makes his capture. 

Now for the longed-for thrilling rapture 

Of kisses given and returned, 

The prize his long pursuit has earned. 



Panting she lies there in his arms, 
Swooning, faint with love's alarms. 
But he stands motionless and bent. 
Listening, suddenly intent. 
For someone's coming. He can hear 
Muted steps approaching near. 
Someone's coming out to search 
For the bird that's left its perch. 



Quick as thought he lifts her high 
On his shoulder. Then with eye 
Backward cast, prances away 
To the woods. He will not stay 
Till he finds the hawthorn hedge 
That circles round the garden's edge 
There they'll be in safety soon. 
And leagues away by set of moon. 



65 



Too late arrives the mortal lover. 
The wretched man cannot discover 
Anything. Not the littlest trace 
Of her from whom was all his grace. 
Only with his lantern wan 
He finds the Grecian statue gone, 
And lying on its base all bare 
The scarf his loved one used to wear. 



Does he put two and two together ? 

Does he pause to question whether 

Statue of stone can come to life 

And take unto itself a wife ? 

I do not know. Nor is it mine 

Occult theories to refine ; 

One thing only now is certain, 

Light flicks up, and down drops curtain ! 



66 



DINARD: 1913 

A SUNNY PLACE, it has been called, 
for People that are Shady. 
And in truth you can talk there 
with a certain kind of lady, 
Regardless of relations 

or of Madam Grundy's frown ; 
And there's lots of fun at Dinard 
when the sun goes down. 

All through the day the children play 

along the sandy shore ; 
They run about and paddle there 

till they can run no more ; 
And evening brings a comfy bed, 

a kiss, and a cool night-gown. 
But the men wake up at Dinard 

when the sun goes down. 

There are several other places 

on the coast to Parame, 
Where for francs and five-franc-pieces 

the blinking tourists play. 
Oh, that's the game for tinsel souls 

and souls of copper brown ! 
They play for gold at Dinard 

when the sun goes down. 



67 



Hush ! for the moon's a-glimmer 

along the silver sand ; 
Out from the white casino 

comes the tinkle of a band. 
If you've lost the love and money 

that you brought with you from town, 
You can ait your throat at Dinard — 

now the sun^s s;one down. 



68 



A BALLAD OF BLOIS 

OH, Blois she is a fine town 
With her Chateau on the hill, 
Her walls are old and cracked and brown^ 

Her past is living still ; 
Yet there's something I have lost there 

That I would like to find, 
Though I have half forgotten 
What it is I've left behind ! 

Oh, the Loire's a lovely river 

As he winds across the plain, 
Bright as a path of silver 

Or as sunlight seen through rain ; 
Yet there's something I have lost there 

And never more may find, 
And it seems so very careless 

To have left it there behind 1 



At Blois they gave me dark wine 

(The strong man waxeth stronger), 
At Blois they gave me light wine 

(The long tongue waggeth longer), 
Yet there's something that they took from me, 

Something I cannot find, 
And not a soul to tell me 

What it is I've left behind ! 



69 



In Blois there grows a red rose 
Upon a little tree ; 

In Blois there grows a red rose- 
It seemed to grow for me ; 

Now, far away, the scent of it 
Comes wafted up the wind. . 

Do you think it is my Heart 
That Tve left at Blois behind ? 



70 



THE MONK OF FIESOLE 

WE'RE dull, you say, 
And in the Monastery have to pray 
All day ? 



Well, in the quiet skies, 
As the glad day dies, 
I've often seen 
A beauty more serene 
Than the noon's best ; 
At least there's rest. 



So even here 

(No need to sneer) 

For ease 

There's just your soul to please 

With little flowers 

And bowers, 

And for delight 

The starry night, 

And over all Christ's cross. . . . 

No : to lose the world's no loss ! 



71 



VENETIAN ECHO 

DOMES high up in the sky somewhere, 
Weeds and oleanders here, 
Here in this little court. 
And silence passing thought. 
Except for a flutter now and then 
Of birds, invisible, far away, 
A mile — who knows — or ten, 
In the sunny summer day. . . . 



72 



LISTEN 

FOR now an endless story will I tell you, dear, 
Not of to-day, not of to-morrow, nor last year. 
Last Year is sadly faded, and To-day must go 
To mingle darkly in To-morrow's overthrow ; 
But Love, of every life the harbinger and breath, 
Eternally renewed, derides and conquers Death. 



73 



THE BELLS OF PARADISE 



O BELLS of Paradise, I hear you ringing 
In happy work, in sweet bird's singing ; 
Over the sunlit fields of June 
The murmuring bee echoes your tune. 



And in the passion of girl and boy, 
Pure gold of youth without alloy, 
And in the mind of a man that's glad 
Or, well it may be, wounded and sad 



For truth's sake, there your voice is clear 
Chanting love's carillon for ever dear. 
But more than all, and of all most. 
In the flaked innocence of the Host, 



Victim and Priest and God in one, 
Loveliest of all things under the sun. 
In that white silence breathes your chime, 
Incarnate Timelessness in Time. 



I 



74 



This is the faith we men Hve by. 
Proved or disproved, hereon rely 
All dreams, all longings to do well, 
All hope of heaven, all hate of hell. 



Oh, may I hear those bells at last 
When all my joy of earth is past, 
And death, like ocean calm and deep, 
Floods out my life in deathless sleep. 



lb 



ENVOI : For M.A. 

AWHILE the giver dreamed with you, 
Then take the gift for the dead dream's sake 
For they that dream must always wake, 
And never yet has a dream come true, 
And ever the best is what has been ; 
Though between us lie naught but the sea so green' 
And the hills so blue. 



76 

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